This invention relates in general to the field of wheeled litters and lifts for transporting and lifting immobile large animals for treatment, and more particularly to a litter which facilitates placing an animal thereupon and transporting the animal to a lift, and is constructed to be subsequently used in conjunction with the lift for raising the large animal under power for treatment.
Lifting and transporting an immobile, injured or sick large animal without causing the animal discomfort or aggravating an injury is difficult. So an apparatus for lifting and transporting large animals in comfort is needed. (As used in this document, the word "large" includes animals which, if sick or injured or disabled due to age or some other reason, are large enough to present lifting and transportation difficulties to a handler.) Particularly for veterinarians, animal clinics, animal hospitals, humane societies, canine units and zoos, there is an urgent need for such an apparatus.
With the present invention, large immobile animals can be lifted and transported with relative ease and without causing further injury or unnecessary discomfort to the animal. It provides a way for a single person of ordinary strength to lift a very large, prone animal from the ground or floor and transport it. A significant advantage is that this invention has two components, a wheeled cart and a wheeled lift. The cart is light-weight and collapsible so it can easily be carried and stored by the user. The cart includes a sling that can be removed from the lift and placed under the animal. Once under the animal, the sling can be reattached to the cart and the animal can be carted to the lift. The sling can be detached from the cart and the animal can be carried by the sling to the lift by lifting at a pair of opposite handles on the sling and carrying the sling and animal to the lift. Preferably the lift is designed to elevate an animal weighing up to 200 pounds to a level approximately the height of an average treatment table, i.e., approximately 40 inches. This is sufficient to allow treatment to be conducted on a large animal while it remains on the lift, or the animal can be easily transferred therefrom to a treatment table. In its lowered or collapsed position the lift is relatively compact for storage in a vehicle or other storage space.
Other advantages and attributes of this invention will be readily discernable upon a reading of the text hereinafter.